Bay Area weather feels like Christmas with lower-than-normal temps

By Mark Gomez mgomez@mercurynews.com

Posted:
11/12/2012 11:38:07 AM PST

Updated:
11/12/2012 05:47:59 PM PST

SAN JOSE -- So much for that November record-breaking heat.

One week after setting records with temperatures in the low 80s, San Jose experienced a cold snap Monday morning with a low of 39 degrees, about seven degrees below normal, according to the National Weather Service.

Most of the Bay Area also experienced unseasonably low temperatures early Monday morning, with Oakland recording a low of 39 and Palo Alto and San Francisco airport recording lows of 43, according to the weather service.

The cold conditions that hit Monday morning are more typical of Christmas Day, not mid-November, said Mark Strobin, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. Although it was unseasonably cold, the low of 39 in San Jose fell well short of the record of 30 degrees, set in 1896 and 1893, according to the weather service.

The low of 39 in Oakland was 5 degrees above the all-time low, set in 2000.

The unseasonably low nighttime temperatures weren't expected to last long, with overnight lows in the upper 40s and low 50s in the South Bay and East Bay predicted through the rest of the week.

The Bay Area can expect to enjoy sunny skies through Wednesday with temperatures ranging from the low 70s in the South Bay to the mid-60s in the East Bay, the weather service said. However, the clear skies are expected to be replaced by rain clouds as early as Thursday night, when a series of weak storm systems is expected to sweep across the Bay Area.

Forecasters say there is a potential for decent rainfall Sunday.

"It's starting to trend toward a wetter weekend," Strobin said.

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Any of the wet stuff could help San Jose in the rainfall department. Only .56 inches of rain have been recorded since July 1, about 66 percent below normal.

Contact Mark Gomez at 408-920-5869. Follow him at Twitter @MarkMgomez.